d never
been. We have been beaten back, of course, but for the moment the world
does not know that. Paris to-morrow will be be-flagged and the bells of
Notre Dame will send forth their joyous peals to cheer the hearts of my
people. And in Brussels this afternoon thousands of our
enemies--Belgians, Dutch, Hanoverians, Brunswickers--were rushing
helter-skelter into the town--demoralised and disorganised after that
brilliant charge of our cuirassiers against the Allied left."

"Would to God the British had been among them too," murmured old Colonel
Bertrand. "But for their stand . . ."

"And a splendid stand it was. Ah! but for that. . . . To think that if
Grouchy had kept the Prussians away, in only another hour we . . ."

The dreamer paused in his dream of the might have been: then he
continued more calmly:

"But I was not thinking of that just now. I was thinking of those who
fled to Brussels this afternoon with the news of our victory and of
Wellington's defeat."

"Even then the truth is known in Brussels by now," protested Berthier.

"Yes! but not before de Marmont has had the time and the pluck to save
us and our Empire! . . . Berthier," he continued more vehemently, "don't
stand there so gloomy, man . . . and you, too, my old Bertrand. . . .
Surely, surely you have realised that at this terrible juncture we must
utilise every circumstance which is in our favour. . . . That early
news of our victory . . . we can make use of that. . . . A big throw in
this mighty game, but we can do it . . . Berthier, do you see how we can
do it . . . ?"

"No, Sire, I confess that I do not," replied the Marshal gloomily.

"You do not see?" retorted the Emperor with a frown of angry impatience.
"De Marmont did--at once--but he is young--and enthusiastic, whereas
you. . . . But don't you see that the news of Wellington's defeat must
have enormous consequences on the money markets of the world--if only
for a few hours? . . . It must send the prices on the foreign Bourses
tumbling about people's ears and create an absolute panic on the London
Stock Exchange. Only for a few hours of course . . . but do you not see
that if any man is wise enough to buy stock in London during that panic
he can make a fortune by re-selling the moment the truth is known?"

"Even then, Sire," stammered Berthier, a little confused by this
avalanche of seemingly irrelevant facts hurled at him at a moment when
the whole map of Europe was being changed by